2006 Top Green Building Products

Each year, BuildingGreen, Inc., selects the most innovative green building products, an increasingly complex task considering the surge of new products coming to market in the booming green building industry. BuildingGreen is one of the pioneers in the field, producing the much respected Environmental Building News newsletter and GreenSpec directory.

“The range of product types showing exemplary innovation is amazing,” says co-editor Alex Wilson. Three of the top ten products this year primarily save energy, two products save water, three are made from recycled waste and one is a system to salvage material. One product was chosen because it turns ordinary concrete into one of the best flooring options for commercial buildings. Another winner provides renewable energy credits, an excellent way for building owners to support renewable energy. “Most of the Top-10 products this year have multiple environmental attributes,” he says.

BuildingGreen’s Top-10 product selections are drawn primarily from new additions to the company’s GreenSpec product directory, which now includes over 2,100 products. More than 250 product listings are new to the GreenSpec database this year. “New products seem to be appearing at an ever-faster pace,” says Wilson. Some of the winners are new to the market. “In some cases, we like to see evidence of success in the real world before recognizing green products,” explains Wilson.

A big driver in the development of green products continues to be the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED? Rating System (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design), which awards points for the use of certain product types or for the energy or water savings that green products can achieve. “Designers of LEED buildings are looking for green products, and manufacturers are responding,” says Wilson. In the online version of GreenSpec, users can find products organized by LEED credits.

The 2006 Top-10 Green Building Products are:

* Polished concrete system from RetroPlate
* Underwater standing timber salvage by Triton Underwater Logging
* PaperStone Certified composite surface material from KlipTech Composites, Inc.
* Varia and “100 Percent” recycled-content panel products from 3form, Inc.
* Recycled-content interior molding from Timbron International
* SageGlass tintable glazing from Sage Electrochromics
* Water-efficient showerhead with H2Okinetic technology from Delta
* WeatherTRAK smart irrigation controls from HydroPoint Data Systems, Inc.
* Coolerado Cooler advanced, indirect evaporative air conditioner from Coolerado, LLC
* Renewable Energy Credits from Community Energy, Inc.

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